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Wednesday, January 6, 2010

As reported in today's enquirer Tower Place Mall has a new owner/developer that promises to breathe much needed new life into 4th Streets struggling retail center. The developer responsible for creating Rookwood Commons now has his sights set on downtown. 4th Street is fast becoming a center point for downtown living. With all the new activity buzzing around Fountain Square, a well stocked retail destination would be a huge asset to insuring long term success downtown. It really makes sense to have a good central shopping spot in the center of the city rather than out in the suburbs. Now what we really need is a good grocery store downtown also. I'm tired of having to drive to Rookwood or Clifton for groceries. A nice whole foods market or similar along the streetcar route would be a dream come truefor Downtown and OTR residents.

10 comments:

Yes I know about that Krogers. I live one block from it and have been there many times, have you? It's a terrible store. They have only the cheapest and unhealthiest foods imaginable. Hardly any fresh foods or organic foods.

John, instead of going to Clifton or HP, I often just hop over the bridge to the Bellevue or now Newport Kroger. That said, I'd not go to either if there were a good grocery store downtown-- or if Findlay Market's hours were extended and they had a place where I could buy things like toilet paper and cleaning products.

The Kroger on Vine isn't terrible, but it is more of a "pick up a few quick items" store than a full-on "get everything you need for the week" store. This is partly due to the fact that many of its customers (including me) are walking and can only carry so much at a time.

For mall items, I tend try my best to go to the Korger downtown, but I usually find that the staff are not very nice and tend to be proccupied with gossiping with thier coworkers rather then helping you. Also, the lack of selection is dis-heartening. But, the only way to change it is to frequent the store more often, letting management know what's wrond. If enough of us complain, maybe things will change.

I really hope they are able to do something with Tower Place. It has gotten more and more depressing every year and this year they didn't even have Santa! (And they used to have a really good Santa.) The Macy's Santa was rather unenthusiastic just like that store in general. The limited scope of items makes me pine for the days when they were on 7th and had everything! Furniture, rugs, wine store, restaurant, salon, you name it! I guess the days of the giant department store are over but I still miss it.I don't like some things super-sized though. I love the little Krogers. I do my grocery shopping at Findlay and the little Krogers is perfect for picking up toilet paper, sugar, milk, etc. I hate the gigantic grocery stores. If we get one downtown I hope it is pedestrian friendly in scale.

On the topic of Kroger-- I live two blocks from the Vine St. Kroger and although I agree that it's not sufficient for all of my shopping, I feel compelled to use it often so they are aware that their clientele is changing any they will eventually have to change their inventory. The produce usually sucks, but it's much better than it was two years ago. And there is usually no need to purchase produce there anyway, as the Market is only two blocks in the other direction from me.

My dream is for a more pedestrian-friendly, European-style shopping culture downtown and in OTR. A large, big-box grocery store would actually prohibit foot traffic and cause more problems for pedestrians. I say keep stores like Whole Foods out of downtown and, instead, Kroger should invest some cash in renovating the Vine St. store into a Pharmacy and then invest in the entertainment complex at 12th & Sycamore and turn that into a grocery-only store.

I agree that I wouldn't want to see a gigantic chain grocery store downtown either, but rather a more pedestrian friendly, urban grocery store. Kroger's could certainly do this with ease if they saw it to be profitable. There have actually been some rumors out there about that type of Kroger's becoming part of the new Banks project. I personally think that would work nicely because it would be right on the streetcar line and would be very easy for people in OTR and all around downtown to get to without a car.

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